Method of flushing closet-bowls.



C. H.'MUCKENH|RN. METHOD OF FLUSHING CLOSET BOWLS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 9. I914.

Patented Dec. 25, 1917.

- UNITED STATES PATENT onrrcn CHARLES H. MUCKENHIRN, OF DETROIT,MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO THE STANDARD SANITARY MANUFACTURIN G COMPANY, OFPITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A COR- PORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD OF FLIl'SI-IING CLOSET-BOWLS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 25,1917.

Application filed June 9, 1914. Serial No. 843,967. g

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. Muonnn- I-IIRN, a citizen of theUnitedStates, residing at Detroit, in the countyof l/Vayne and State ofMichigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methodsof Flushing ClosetBowls, of which the following is a specification,reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to an improved method of flushing closet bowls,and has for its object the provision of a method which will accomplishbetter results than is possible of attainment by the employment of anordinary siphon action, and to eliminate the many objections incident tothe so-called siphon jet bowl which is the one most commonly in use atthe present time.

The invention embraces themethod of discharging the contents of closetbowls consisting of subjecting said contents to the expelling force ofwater delivered in such a manner as to embody the application of thedynamic properties of a cycloid, compre hending in that particular boththe setting up of a siphon action in the bowl and the starting andsustaining of such a siphon action.

In connection with a bowl of the siphon action type, the same originallycontemplated and still involves the use of a volume of water,customarily delivered through a flushing rim, to augment the body ofwater usuallygcontained in the bowl so as to raise the level of suchbody of water (to varying degrees within the limits of several inches)and to cause the ater to flow over-the dam at the upper end of theup-leg or discharge from the bowl and into and through the down-legthereof, such escaping water overcoming the air pressure in the down-legand causing a rush of water therethrough which effects the siphoning ofthe water in the bowl and the other bowl contents out through the up-legto free the bowl thereof. The operation stated has objections in thatprovision-must be made in the bowl to permit the rise of the water, asstated, and because of the fact that when the siphon breaks any of thebowl contents remaining in the up-leg flows back into the bowl.

In keeping with what is styled the siphon jet action, efiort has beenmade to supplement the volume of water by force, through the medium of ajet introduced into the upleg of the bowl, usually .near the bottomthereof, and which jet discharges up the upleg and over the dam toeffect the siphoning action aforesaid. This is the more advanced type ofbowl at present known to thetrade, but in the use thereof it will beappreciated that the jet has no cleansing action on the bowl and thenecessity for the jet orifices or nozzle requires a very delicate andspecial handling of the bowl in the construction thereof, such bowlbeing made by'hand: The necessity for forming these bowls by handrenders them very expensive and always attended by the liability thatthe jet passage will contain defects or be wrongly constructed, whichcannot be ascertained until the bowl is completed and placedin use.

It is with a view of overcoming the objections of the prior methods offlushing'a bowl, and apparatus for carrying the same into effect, thatthe present method-has been devised, the same consisting in providingthe closet bowl with the usual seal-water,

and delivering to and causing to pass through such bowl and out of theup-leg thereof water caused to pass through the bowl in a curved pathconstituting the arc of a cycloid, the last mentioned water being aportion of the usual flushing water, as distinguished fromthe previouslymentioned siphon jet apparatus wherein the water for the jet is divertedaway from the flushing supply. The method of closet operation acquiredby the introduction of the cycloid dilfers'from the siphon methodsinthat the water flowing along the cycloid reaches the lowest point of thecurve i. e. at the bottom of the up-take leg more quickly than the waterfollowing the walls of the bowl cavity elsewhere, the result being thatthe flow of water is started up the up-leg much sooner than would be'thecase in a true siphonic action. The function of the jet in the previousmethod referredto being to start the flow up the up-leg independent'ofthe flow into the bowl cavity, the

action described as acquired through the cycloid is'thereforesubstantially that of the jet butwith' no diverging of the flushingwater from the bowl cavity. A property of the cycloid being to changethe direction illustrated.

from the vertical to the horizontal without loss of energy, asdistinguished from the retardation or loss of force incident to the useof a curved surface not a cycloid, said energy may be utilized to expelthe bowl contents through the up-leg, thus dispensing with the specialconstruction usually required to afford a jet with its attendingdifficulties in manufacture under the prevailing hand pressing ormolding process.

I have above discussed that phase of my method embracing the starting upof a siphon action in the bowl contents through the medium of waterdelivered into the bowl in amanner to embody the dynamic properties of acycloid, and would now reiterate that the invention also embraces thefurther step of sustaining such siphon action by causing water to passdown the usual down leg ofthe bowl in a curved path similarlyconstituting the arc of a cycloid to ef feet a temporary water plugacross the ultimate outlet from the bowl as will hereinafter more fullyappear. In carrying the method into practical effect I prefer theassistance of an apparatus designed to that end, and to impart a betterunderstandingof the invention, reference will be made to theaccompanying drawings forming part hereof and wherein the preferredconstruction is In the drawings:

Figure l is a vertical longitudinal section through the bowl,-

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view there-V of on line 22 of Fig. 1. 4Referring more specificallyto the drawings wherein like referencecharacters designate corresponding parts in the several views, it willbe observed that the bowl cavity is substantially oval in its upper partand from the flushing rim 1 to about the level at which the seal waterstands, that is, from the rim to about the level of a plane on line 22drawn across the top of the dam 2 the walls of the vbowl extend directlydownward with very little contracting curvature. From the lineQ, thelower portion of the bowl contracts more sharply and the front and rearquarters or thereabo-ut are constructed withcurvatures that constitute atrue cycloid in the bowl cavity, the rear portion being the bottom'ofthe up-leg at.

I prefer to construct this part of the bowl so that each are extendingfrom the focus 3 is substantially the arc of a cycloid having ahalflongitudinal axis equal to the distance from 5 to 2, and a vertical axisequal to the distance from 5 to 3, the distance from 5 to 2 being thehalf of the developed perimeter of a circle whose diameter is equal tothe vertical distance from 3. to 5.

It is a well known characteristic of this cycloidal curve that anarticle dropping along its curved surface will have greater velocitythan when moving over surfaces of other curvatures of a distinctlydifferent nature, and the same velocity as if dropped directly along thevertical axis and that its acquired velocity or momentum will carry itup the opposite curve of the cycloid to a height equal to thatfrom'which it drops. Of course, curves that are not cycloids butapproach to a cycloid will produce results which approach to the resultsproduced by the cycloid and therefore the action which is to be carriedout by the cycloidal curves can be attained by any other curve whichapproaches to the cycloid and would come within the spirit of theinvention which is involved in the use of this curve selectedas best forthe purpose.

The cycloidal surface of the bowl between the points 7 and 8(constituting about the front quarter of the bowl) is produced as acurved surface of revolution by swinging its curve on a line somewhat infront of: its vertical axis. A surface accomplishing good results can beconstructed by, arranging cycloidal curves generated by circles of .different sizes in a way such that thehigh points are inthe desired arearound the bowl and the low point (where the curve is nearly horizontal)crosses at the mouth of the discharge leg, the crossing point should benear (but is not necessarily directly at) the center of the dischargeintake, the requisite being that the momentum of the.

water falling along the surface shall tend to carry the mass into thedischarge passage, the object being to produce a concentration ofwhatever water comes through the flush rim and strikes the front quarterof the bowl, concentrating all of the dropping water to. a focus whichis near the. middle of the mouth opening into the discharge leg 4:- Theflushing rim is provided with openings along the bowl surface throughwhich the water drops from the rim into the bowl in the ordinary way,with a provision ,how-.

ever, that a large part of. the water drops through the front quarterand drops into contact with the curved interior of the bowl and isconcentrated as it drops to the focal point at the mouth opening of thedischarge leg. This waterdrops with the force that it acquires bydropping from the flushing rim added to such force as may remain to itfrom its previous travel due to the height of the flush tank above thebowl. 7

From the focal point 3 the water passes as a mass or stream up thecurved lower run of the leg 4; this has a force suflicient to carry allthe water that drops into the bowl over the-dam, provided it is notimpeded by seal water in its course from the rim of the dam. If there beseal water, as is always the case at the first part of the action, themomentum of the dropping water is sufficient to start the seal water inmotion, and

very soon; Sets. up; the I siphonic action which will be referred tohereafter and continues seal water has been-entirely discharged and.

is followed by the stream of flush water dropping through the rimconcentrating at the focal point and passing as' astream up thedischarge leg and over. thedam.

The down leg of the discharge passage is constructed with achamberbetween the dam 2 and the final outlet opening 10 which issufiicient to hold any excess water over that which passes through theup-leg during the period of flush beyond that which in the first part ofthe flush passes out through the outlet opening 10.

The rear of the discharge leg is curved along its under run with a halfcycloid or a curve approaching a cycloid in character, which causes thewater that drops over the dam to leap across the opening of the finaldischarge outlet 10 from the point 12 to the surface above the point 13(shown in the drawing as located slightly belowvthe point 12) to allowfor a slight drop of water by gravity at this point, but which lowerlocation of the point 13 is not an essential feature to the action, assome part of the water leaping from the under run of the dischargeconduit will strike above the point 13 and even above the level of thepoint 13, inasmuch as the Water is in a mass and much of it is raisedabove the surface of the under run of the curve.

Some of the water leaps across the opening 10, strikes the curvedsurface 15 and curves upward and backward, much of it adhering to thesurface and following a curved path and some of it spattering or flying,but nearly all of it remaining in the portion of the chamber which isabove the direct outlet for an instant of time, and the water thusaccumulates at this point before it changes its direction of movementdownward through the ultimate outlet 10. This change of movement anddelay in time is sufficient to very promptly produce a water plug atthis point and as soon as the water plug is established the water tendsto accumulate more and more and fill up the chamber E which now servesto store the excess water passing over the dam, exceeding for a shorttime the water escaping through the outlet F.

I have utilized in this bowl the feature of employing the momentum ofthe falling water in the body of the bowl itself, and which is all usedfor the purpose of washing the surface of the bowl, for the purpose ofcontinuing to carry out the flush water after the contents or originalseal water has been discharged and thus substantially preventing theaction attendant upon the breaking of the siphon, and experiment hasshown that theseresults are very successfully attained in theconstruction that is herein shown. I

Thesealwater iscarried out'much more promptly and almost without theordinary ise.- f. h s water in e w andbefore siphonicaction' begins, forexample, in

standardbowls ofvarious kinds that I have tested the rise of the sealwater is from one and one-half to three inches before thesiphon actionwas established, whereas, in a bowl constructed according to thisinvention, the rise of the seal water is barely half an inch, while thesiphon action is estabthe ordinary siphon discharge bowl which i is notaided with a jet.

I am not aware of any term or phrase that will exactly and brieflycharacterize the geometrical figure which I have described.

Therefore considering it analogous to an elliptic spheroid I will callthis figure a cycloidal spheroid and will call the part between twoconsecutive diverging planes that are bounded by unequal cycloids asector of a differential cycloidal spheroid.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is 1. The art ofemptying the contents of closet bowls by the employment of the dynamicproperties of a cycloid consisting in causing an expelling Volume ofwater to follow the arc of a cycloid downward and toward the bowldischarge and causing flushing water to enter the bowl cavity during theoperation.

2. The art of emptying the contents of closet bowls by employing thedynamic properties of a cycloid consisting in causing flush water toenter the bowl, converting the flush water entering the bowl oppositethe discharge thereof into an expelling jet by causing it to flowdownwardly and toward the discharge in the arc of a cycloid.

3. The art of emptying closet bowls con sisting in projecting into thebowl a volume of flushing water and causing a portion of the flushingWater remote from the bowl discharge to follow the arc of a cycloid andconverge at a point centrally of the discharge to effect a preliminaryjetting action through the discharge. 7

4:. The method of emptying the contents of vessels comprising thesubjectin of said contents to the discharging action 0 a liquid movingtoward the exit from said vessel in the path ofa cycloidal curve toderive the dynamic properties thereof.

5. An apparatus of the character de properties of the-'cyclbidindiseharging the scribed, comprising a vessel having a suitcontents ofthe vesseh v 10 able exit portion for the vessel contents,- a Intestimony whereof I hereunto affixmy surface Within the apparatus shapedto form signature in the presence of two Witnesses;

a cycloidal curve, and means for discharg-, CHARLES H. MUCKENH-IRN.

ing a liquid into the apparatus to cause the Vitnesses: I

same to move over the cyeloidal surface tor C. WV; ROLL,

ward the 'said exit to derive the dynamic G. G. MILLER.

Cnpies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

